Driving around Oz in 4WD versus regular car

Is the Toopie a diesel or petrol?

The price saving in fuel with a 2wd would be swallowed up if you hired a 4wd regularly.

Our Camry averages 10k/L. My diesel 80 Landcruiser averages 8.5 k/l. You can do your sums with those starting figures, but I'd go with the Cruiser for two reasons.
Fuel consumption is not that much worse
You dont need to stop and hire one to go somewhere you've just found/heard about. You just go. And there are so many off road things to see and do.

You should get a Toyota Prius if u want to drive around in an economical car ...stay on the tar ..see the towns and ' save' your money ...but if you want to see Australia ...you will need a diesel unit ..Toyota Landcruiser..or the like ..to go off road and into all the nooks and crannies that this country has in an unique form .. after which you will not count the dollar cost... but have a treasure trove of life experiences...very few ..'bloody few' that u will ever get on the tar ...(bitumen)...

All of the above. There is a lot to see from the tar but the difference is that you can do both in a 4x. Another consideration is the time you have to do this trip. If you are going round in 2 months then you can keep yourself busy with on road sights. If you ahd speecific off road places to visit and considered hiring for one or two then it may be worth it. A bit frustrating to get up to the Kimberlies and then say " if only.....". If you have 6 + months then you will have more opportunity to explore and plod about off road. (sigh) . I wouls also cosider what accomodation options you were going to pay for. So if you take the camry and decide to camp then the towing costs - for allthe stuff - on the road car may outweigh bundling everything inside a bigger 4x. If you decide to stay where there are real beds then your costs will go up - way up. your choice.

You dont need a 4by to get off the Tar as My Camry used to do a pretty good job on rough fishing tracks. however at the end of the day you will always get more places safely in a 4by. I putt off going to the kimberlys until I had a 4by
Plenty too see in a 2wd and even more to see with a 4by. If you already have the 4by then it is a no - brainer

Hello - a Landcruiser will probaly cost at least $100 a day to hire - so it wont take many 4WD excursions to over run the savings in fuel you will make using the Camry the rest of the time. This is of course dependant on how far you plan on travelling and how many 4WD trips you do..but a trip around Australia is a long way and there a numerous 4WD opportunities. In some places it is actualluy hard to get a 4WD when you want due to demand - another disadvantage. Also if you have a bingle in the hire 4WD (without additioanal insurance cover at hire company) the equation changes dramatically as you will be up for big bucks.

The story may be different if you didnt actually own a 4WD already. Selling the 4WD, investing the money or paying off house (for example) and then hiring a 4WD when required is another (long term) option that can save money and has been argued by some to be better (ie cheaper) that owning one full time.
Cheers
Greg